Albion Prelude

Albion Prelude is the main plot of the eponymous X³: Albion Prelude. It is available immediately when selecting the Argon Peacekeeper gamestart, whereupon the player begins the game in Argon Sector M148 flying a well-equipped Nova Prototype with 30,000 credits to his name. It is also possible to start the plot with all but the Terran Commander and Aldrin Adventurer gamestarts, after attaining the Argon rank of Accepted Adviser.

It is a relatively short plot and well-worth completing for the rewards, which include the unique Aamon Prototype, a fighter containing a hybrid of Terran and Commonwealth technologies. Completion will also activate war reports, and is a necessary prerequisite to begin the game's other plots.

Walkthrough

Argon Special Task Force

Commander Aron Derik orders you to get into formation with Task Force 87, so follow the waypoint to his ship in Argon Sector M148 to do so. Once you are in place he tells you about the Argon-Terran war and gives you all a pep talk.

Trial by Fire

You are now required to aid the war effort by fighting on the front line, so fly to a war zone and engage Terran and ATF targets. War zones are new to this game, and are sectors where control of them is being actively fought over. The closest one to your current sector is Treasure Chest, and you can get there either by flying the old-fashioned way, or by jumping, as your starter ship is equipped with a jumpdrive. After a short while you will get a message about Jonferco technology being found on Terran ships, and then ordered to go back to Argon Sector M148 to dock at a military outpost there.

Jonferco Eavesdrop

Once on the station you will be told that a meeting will be talking place in Albion between Jonferco and an unknown party. You are ordered to spy on the meeting, and to make it easier to do so you are given an Advanced Discoverer equipped with a Triplex Scanner. The Discoverer is an M5 scout, the fastest class of ship and perfect for this type of mission. You will need to get into it, but it is already docked at the same station you are so you can move into it using the station menu.

After you are in the M5, fly to Albion Gamma and find the Jonferco Command Ship, whom it would appear are colluding with the Paranid. To eavesdrop on the conversation you will need to pay attention to the on-screen guidance and follow the Jonferco ship at the correct distances. Eventually they will grow suspicious of you and end the meeting, requiring you to fly back to Argon Sector M148. Once you are docked at the military outpost Derik will thank for your efforts, and tell you to go about your business until he contacts you again.

Highway Patrol

It will not be long until you are told to dock at the military outpost again. It appears Administrator Neyl Colbern of Jonferco is just as concerned as you to discover their technology is on Terran ships, and he asks you to escort a Jonferco patrol. You are given a Centaur, a powerful M6 corvette, so get into it and head to Interworlds to protect the Jonferco Supply Mammoth. Once you are close it will begin to move to the south gate, and Terran ships will jump in from the both gates. They will target the Mammoth so destroy them before they can do any damage. The attacking Claymores will be using Phantom Missiles which can destroy your M6 in one hit, so be wary of them especially. Soon after, Argon capital ships will jump in to protect the sector, and after the attack force has been eliminated a Terran Tokyo will jump in and launch a squadron of Scimitars. If you do not have your own capital ship to handle these, do not worry, the Argon and Paranid forces will eventually take them out too. After the battle Derik tells you carry on aiding the war effort in general until he contacts you again.

Jonferco Under Attack!

When you get the message that Jonferco HQ is under attack by the Terrans you should jump to Belt of Aguilar. Despite your best efforts you will be unable to save it so just mop up the stragglers before returning to Argon Sector M148. After docking at the military outpost you are told that with Jonferco decimated and the Argon unable to divert forces away from the war effort, you will need to perform some missions for Colbern yourself. Your first task is to escort a Jonferco Heavy Load Transporter from Nathan's Voyage to Argon Sector M148.

Albion Defenceless

After that mission is complete, you will receive a message that Jonferco Research Station is under attack by pirates, so head to Albion Beta and take them out.

The Beryll

Once the pirates have been taken care of you will be told to deploy three Lasertowers around Beryll Research Station in Albion Alpha. The Jonferco stations in Albion have them in stock so you do not need to go far to buy them. Once they have been deployed you also will need to deliver 200 Computer Components, 50 Microchips and 10 Impulse Ray Emitters to the station. If you have not already, you will need to take a break from the plot at this point to build up your trading empire a little so you can afford these, and the Microchips in particular will take some time to source.

Upon delivery of the resources you will be asked to provide them with something else, a Xenon L. You cannot buy one of these so you will need to capture one. Unless you have a fleet to invade a Xenon sector with, your best bet of finding one is to scout friendly sectors adjoining Xenon ones for Xenon patrol missions. Taking these will spawn a flight of Xenon ships, and it will almost certainly include at least one L. If you fail to capture one on the first try, you can either carry on scouting for more missions, or reload a save to keep trying for the same one.

When you have the L, send it to dock at the Beryll Research Station. If it is far away you might want to buy a TM and equip it with a Jumpdrive to ferry the L there. Once docked you will receive a message asking you to turn it over, so select its name to do so. Your reward will be three #deca.cefa M3s, rare Terraformer fighters.

Plutarch Rising

It appears that Plutarch will be taking over security of Albion, and you are asked to pay a visit to the highway construction area in Albion Beta. Head to the waypoint, close to the north trans-orbital accelerator, and when you get close a flight of pirates will appear, so destroy them. Your efforts are not appreciated by the local Plutarch forces however, who tell you to buzz off. Do as they say and return to the Argon Sector M148 military outpost.

Trial by Fire

Aid the war effort again by returning to a war zone to destroy some more Terran ships. Like last time it will not take long until you are ordered back to the military outpost.

Uncovered

You are told that a meeting has been arranged with a neutral contact in Harmony of Perpetuity, so head there and follow the Plutarch Albion Pride. It is a new sector, owned by the Goner and north of Elysium of Light. At the meeting Plutarch director Falos Disanos Hunas I tells Derik that the Plutarch CEO, Landon, is behind the attacks, having told the Terrans that the Terraformer fleet which ravaged their territory was constructed by Jonferco. This prompted the Terrans to do the brunt of the damage against Jonferco, and now Landon is hiring mercenaries to mop up what is left. In fact Landon is now about to take a mercenary fleet to Albion to destroy Jonferco Research Station, so head to Albion Beta to stop it.

Albion Pride

Apparently, this part is supposed to be more difficult, but when I did it the attack force only consisted of four M3s. If your game has too many enemies for you to handle them by yourself, you can sit back and let the loyalist Plutarch forces in the sector take care of them.

With the attack force defeated this plot is complete. You are thanked for your efforts and given a unique ship, the Aamon Prototype. This M3 is a hybrid of Terran and Commonwealth technologies and can mount both their weapons, so it may come in handy.